New Delhi/Patna: RJD chief Lalu Yadav and his family members, including wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi, faced fresh trouble on Friday as the CBI charged them with corruption in connection with a land scam and raided their 12 premises in Patna and other cities.
The raids were conducted in connection with Sujata Hotels, owned by Ms Gupta. Mr Yadav, who is facing trial in the fodder scam case, was in Ranchi when CBI raided his residential premises in Patna.
The CBI suspects that in exchange of the contract favour, Mr Yadav received a “prime plot of land” in Patna from Ms Gupta’s marketing firm — Delight Marketing. The three-acre plot was handed over to a company allegedly owned by Mr Yadav’s wife and son Mr Tejashwi, who is also Bihar’s deputy Chief Minister.
While there was a complete silence from the RJD’s alliance partner and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Mr Yadav described the raids as “politically motivated” that were “carried out at the behest of the Prime Minister”.
The BJP has demanded Tejashwi’s dismissal from the government. The information and broadcasting minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, responding to the RJD charges, made it clear that neither the government nor the BJP had anything to with the CBI raids.
“Where is the political vendetta. BJP is nowhere involved in this. CBI is doing it’s duty,” Mr Naidu said. In Patna, BJP leader and former deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi demanded that Chief Minister “must now sack Tejashwi Yadav from the cabinet”.
Speaking to this newspaper, the BJP leader said that “Nitish Kumar must sack Tejashwi Yadav from his cabinet after the CBI registered FIR against him and his family members”.
The CBI began its raids simultaneously at Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar and Gurugram. The raids included the premises of the Yadav family as well as one of Mr Gupta.
